The present application relates to semiconductor technology, and more particularly to a field effect transistor (FET) that can be used for DNA sequencing detection.
DNA sequencing is the process of determining the precise order of nucleotides within a DNA molecule. DNA sequencing includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases—adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine—in a strand of DNA. The advent of rapid DNA sequencing methods has greatly accelerated biological and medical research and discovery.
Knowledge of DNA sequences has become indispensable for basic biological research, and in numerous applied fields such as medical diagnosis, biotechnology, forensic biology, virology and biological systematics. The rapid speed of sequencing attained with modern DNA sequencing technology has been instrumental in the sequencing of complete DNA sequences, or genomes of numerous types and species of life, including the human genome and other complete DNA sequences of many animal, plant, and microbial species.
DNA sequencing methods currently under development include reading the sequence as a DNA strand transmitted through nanopores, and microscopy-based techniques, such as atomic force microscopy or transmission electron microscopy that are used to identify the positions of individual nucleotides within long DNA fragments (>5,000 bp) by nucleotide labeling with heavier elements (e.g., halogens) for visual detection and recording.
Future generation technologies aim to increase throughput and decrease the time and cost by eliminating the need for excessive reagents and harnessing the processivity of DNA polymerase. Notably, and in order to achieve low-cost and rapid DNA sequencing for genomes with large-scale complexity, it is necessary to increase the speed and length of individual sequencing reads. Moreover, a high level multiplex of such sequencing processes will eventually become essential to improve overall throughput.
In view of the above, there is a need for providing a DNA sequencing detection method which overcomes the drawbacks associated with prior art DNA sequencing detection methods.